Outgoing Illinois Governor Patrick Quinn, who lost his reelection bid in November, in his last days in office signed a bill into law requiring all Illinois businesses with 25 employees or more to offer individual retirement savings options to their employees by June 1, 2017. Under the law, businesses will have an option of using…
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Along with the New Year, next week will also bring the requirement for posting new forms and employment posters in a host of states around the country. The state of Illinois is just one state where employers need to switch their employment posters with new mandated by the state’s Department of Labor. All franchise owners…
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Notwithstanding efforts by “zealous advocates for social change” and others around the country, we’re encouraged now and then to see public officials advocating a return to a freer economic market that can produce real economic benefits. In that vein, so-called Right to Work legislation appears to be gaining ground in a couple of different states. …
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In neighboring Indiana, the state Supreme Court has unanimously upheld the state right to work law, dealing a blow to organized labor, which had strongly opposed the law when it was passed in 2012. Generally, Right to Work laws prohibit an employer from requiring union membership or requiring the payment of any monies (including union…
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Six Dunkin’ Donuts franchise owners discussed issues of importance during the 2014 National Conference. View clips from that conversation below. Franchisee Conversation – Part 1 Franchisee Conversation – Part 2
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Ballot measures mandating increases in the state minimum wage were approved in each of the four states where it was presented to the voters. Alaska voters approved a new minimum wage of $9.75 by January, 2016. Thereafter, the state wage will be adjusted based on inflation or be set $1 higher than the statutory federal…
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We reported to you back at the beginning of this month on a ruling by the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development that rejected a complaint by labor advocates that about 100 low-wage workers were not being paid a “living wage” as required by a 1913 state law. Well, it seems that one of the labor-backed…
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You will recall that initiatives to increase the federal minimum wage began when President Obama identified it as a goal of his second term back in 2013. Although the issue has been a non-starter at the federal level in Congress, Vice President Joe Biden was trying to breathe more life into it at a speech…
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As you all know too well, last week was the latest SEIU and affiliate-planned worker protests seeking a mandated $15/hour minimum wage and the first undertaking on the foundation of civil disobedience. In the aggregate, dozens of protesters and SEIU agitators were arrested in a number of cities across the country. What you might have…
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Seemingly following suit with a handful of other state around the country, Illinois legislature recently passed and Governor Quinn signed into law legislation that “bans the box” on job application questionnaires. “Ban the box” legislation restricts the ability of potential employers to ask applicants about any criminal record they may have until such time as…
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